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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A BACK-LYING FARM by JAMES LOGIE ROBERTSON

First Line: A BACK-LYING FARM BUT LATELY TAKEN IN
Last Line: SHE TWINED THE LONG WAN GRASSES IN HER HAT.
Subject(s): COUNTRY LIFE;

A back-lying farm but lately taken in;
Forlorn hill-slopes and grey, without a tree;
And at their base a waste of stony lea
Through which there creeps, too small to make a din,
Even where it slides over a rocky linn,
A stream, unvisited of bird or bee,
Its flowerless banks a bare sad sight to see.
All round, with ceaseless plaint, though spent and thin,
Like a lost child far-wandered from its home,
A querulous wind all day doth coldly roam.
Yet here, with sweet calm face, tending a cow,
Upon a rock a girl bareheaded sat,
Singing unheard, while with unlifted brow
She twined the long wan grasses in her hat.



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